The four corners of the world
by PersianWitch
Summary: Have you even wondered what'd happen if Ignis was more stiff and ettiquette-driven? If Gladio was too self-confident for his own good? What if Prompto wasn't always a smiling ball of sunshine, but a normal teenager, full of complexes? What if Noctis was so sick that his life would be endangered?
1. Fighting

_Prologue:_

 _The hit sent his way was so strong that Noctis thought he had blacked out for a moment._

" _I'm afraid that's it, East. Unfortunately." South said._

 _Bright eyes of the Witch of the East observed Noctis without interest, as he struggled helplessly to stay awake. Black dots littering his vision obstructed shapes and colors, making it nearly impossible to make out what was going on and that ringing in his ears..._

 _The Witch of the South smiled. "You'll die, East. Here and now."_

 _The Witch of the East didn't answer right away. Standing still, illuminated only by eternally moving curse circles, she bore her motionless stare into Noctis, waiting. As he sighed with pain, his body sagging, signalling a consciousness that had been lost, East turned to the other Witches._

" _Yes." she said and her voice was calm. "But I will not die alone."_

/

Chapter 1:

 _Three months earlier_

It really sounded like a good idea at that time.

Of course, they should have known not to give in to Prompto's stupid plans, but a bunch of wolf pups seemed like a no-challenge at all, especially to bored teenagers. However as they just discovered, even if humans made discusable parents, the animals cetrainly were properly protective. So when adult wolves jumped out of their hiding place in nearby bushes, situation quickly changed from amusing to terrifyingly life-threatening.

"Noct!"

The prince cringed. Tightening his sweaty grip on a dagger's handle, he slowly backed out into relatively safe spot behind Gladio's back.

"Stay back, your highness!" Ignis called from not so far away, where together with Prompto he was being cornered by a pack of four really big wolves. One of them growled hoarsely, circling around guarded humans. Bigger than the rest, it must have been the pack leader, which made the situation only worse. Ignis felt his muscles stiffen from effort not to do any sudden movement. From what he remebered, the wolves were aggressive when provoked and even though they had provoked them alright, if only they could make their way out of this woodlet...

The pack leader deprived him of his choices. As Ignis wrecked his mind to find a solution to this dangerous situation, the animal scanned the surrrounding.

"You think it's gonna... whoa! No!"

Prompto didn't finish, because when three wolves jumped on them together, the pack leader leapt away, with planned movement path landing on Gladio's back. But instead of sinking its teeth in muscular bodyguard's back, the wolf swiftly turned to the one hiding back.

"Noct! Run!" Gladio roared, before a heavy paw grounded his face into grass.

"NO! Stay where you are!" Ignis slashed a wolf's muzzle, trying not to turn his back to the other one. To his right, Prompto wrestled with another animal which bit his sword and refused to let go.

Noctis didn't hear them. Hypnotized by two unmoving, deadly calm yellow eyes, he didn't know what to do. Running meant turning away from the wolf and getting attacked; standing in place also meant an attack, this time received with full attention what made it even more terrifying.

The wolf pounced on the boy frozen in fear. With its jaws opened wide, the animal aimed to bite Noctis's head off in one quick snap, but when its teeth clacked on nothing, it stopped in confusion. Blue lights danced in front of it and through them, the wolf saw his prey crawling backwards on all fours some distance away. The boy had been hurt, that much was obvious from blood flowing freely down him arm and marking his escape path.

The pack leader growled again, preparing for another jump. It could hear its packmates swarming on fallen Gladio, another two taking care of screaming Prompto, while the beta took on Ignis's daggers with quite big success. The pack was about to have a really great feast tonight, as the three men were rather big prey. And even if this little boy was thin and unappealing as a meal, the leader still chose to kill him first. Being the weakest, he still radiated something unnamed, what made the wolf stiffen in a non-explained uneasiness, so the best option was to get rid of the nuisance right then and there. It opened its terrifying jaws again and howled, listening to the kid's scared squeak.

That was when a flour bomb hit it right into its eyes.

/

One way or another, it seemed that his magic kicked in this time, as he ported out of the wolf's way. Not so far, though. When magical blue lights finished blinding him and Noctis could feel his body again after appearing back, he yelled in pain. Apparently, his magic worked unevenly, because the wolf managed to scratch his arm and forearm with its teeth, as it was now bleeding quite badly.

Noctis took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Along with relief of being alive came adrenaline from near death experience. Not to mention that the wolf was still close and coming for another attack!

At first, Noctis tried to crawl back, but his injured arm gave out the moment he tried to put his weight on it and he fell to the ground. It hurt, it hurt so much that tears came to his eyes, but he blinked them away, more focused on getting away from immediate danger. He was some distance away from the wolf, but not enough, as it could close the gap in a single jump. While it was preparing to pounce again, Noctis, who suddenly felt as if someone hit him on the head, heard a loud whoosh and a small package hit the wolf in the eye, bursting into a cloud of something white.

Noctis didn't lose time. Supporting on his healthy arm, he jumped to his feet and made a break for it. Or would have, as the moment he straightened, a vertigo overcame his scared mind and he stumbled. Sliding down onto grass, Noctis tried to look around, find his friends and help them or call for help, but something like a thick red curtain covered his sight, along with awful ringing in his ears. He could hear alright, but all sounds were distorted and became unrecognizable. Noctis could only guess that a low whizz sound was wolf's growl, while soft booming must have been the packets with white powder hitting the animal.

Losing feeling in his limbs, Noctis would have fallen limply face first into grass, if a pair of strong arms hadn't caught his shivering body.

"Hang in there, son." came a comically deformed voice somewhere from above his head.

"Wah, they are coming!"

"Your highness!"

"Noct..!"

"We are here, Miss Lucia..!"

The arms holding him positioned his body as if he was a mere child's doll. The person who rescued him (a woman? A man?) laid him on the ground, because he could feel a touch of grass on his cheek. Through loud commotion surrounding his battered head, Noctis heard Ignis clearly, Gladio partially and that high scream must have been Prompto's. Voices of his friends awoke something in him and he tried to move.

"Stay down, lad."

A hand, small but really forceful pushed him back down to prevent him from any unnecessary movements. Along with it came a feeling of tingling itch, one that Noctis associated with a healing potion. But where would it come from? He was sure none of them brought any, so maybe the people that came to their rescue..?

Through disgusting red mist covering his eyes and swirling in his mind, Noctis felt feverish and overwhelmingly thirsty. So much, that it rendered him completely unable to think about anything else. His vision seemed to pulse in the corner of his eyes, making him want, want, want...

Not caring about the healing magic coursing through his body from the stranger's touch, Noctis sprang upwards, displaying an abnormal strength freed himself from the one holding him and attacked that person's throat in desperate attempt to feel their blood on his tongue. He could nearly taste it, a feel of human skin on his lips and teeth, nearly sinking into tender flesh without resistance, but then he received a real blow to his head and the world dissapeared into darkness.


	2. Healing

_As much as he wanted to run away, Noctis found out without surprise that he couldn't move a finger. Surrounded by sticky darkness, immobilized against his will, but abnormally calm at the same time, he breathed once, or tried to… he couldn't breathe._

 _He couldn't breathe!_

"Noct! Hey, Noct, quit it, will ya!"

 _Noctis could hear someone calling him, familiar voice carrying warmth and worry. But at the same time dark mass holding him changed into stinking red liquid, too thick for water and too thin for blood, pulling him in, holding his hands in place and he was drowning, drowning, drowning…_

"Your highness, your highness!"

 _His lungs burned and Noctis could taste salty tears running down his face, when suddenly something both hot and cold surrounded his throat and blinding light rendered him unable to see anything at all._

"He is waking up! Ignis, come quick, he's waking up!"

Unexpectedly, all sounds returned to normal. They weren't splotchy, gurgling or bubbling in his ears anymore, just sounding normally and Noctis nearly cried for real this time, realizing that every terrifying thing he had felt until now was most certainly a dream.

"Your highness, how do you feel? Are you in pain?"

Yes, that was Ignis for sure. Only he would want to immediately make sure that his prince was alive and kicking. Even if he wasn't, not literarily.

However, any try to answer his advisor left Noctis coughing his lungs out.

"Take it easy, boy." came a screeching voice from his side and his throat again engulfed in heat and coldness together and the pain lessened enough for him to swallow freely. Through his eyes, blurred with tears of pain, Noctis could see an older woman observing him keenly, bending over Prompto that sat on the chair nearest the bed. The woman's eyes were scary, yellow and unmoving like those of a wolf…

Wolves!

Noctis coughed again, then tried speaking.

"What… what ha- .."

"It's okay, Noct!" jumping on his chair, Prompto ducked under woman's arm to get to his friend. "Don't speak! The healer said that your voice will be out of action for some time!"

"Exactly." Ignis said from the doorway. From what Noctis could see, many people miled through the house, some talking, some running with errands, some tending to the sick, since he wasn't the only one person bandaged and lying on the bed in the room. "You need rest, your highness. We just wanted to make sure you are in stable condition."

"As you did." barked the woman with yellow eyes. "Now shoo! Yer disturbing the patients!"

"But madame…"

"Am not yer ma'am, young man, and these people need strict bed rest! off you go, both of you!"

While the woman was forcing Prompto and Ignis away with well-practiced gestures, Noctis sighed. That was true, he felt rather tired. Not exactly terrible, but his arm hurt, his throat felt scratchy and his head fuzzy with the remnants of his feverish dream.

The woman came to him, grumbling under her breath about irresponsible young ones that caused more trouble than they were worth. She adjusted his pillows and sheets, being professionally careful about his hurt arm and told him to sleep in rather stern voice. Being touched and moved around didn't actually scare Noctis, as he was quite used to it, being the prince of Lucis and all. It also didn't prevent him from thinking. He was injured, yes, but not severely and he felt he could be up and running the next day, as soon as he got some sleep. He didn't remember much of the fight with the pack of wolves, but it should have turned out alright. As much as he could see, his two friends were alright, not injured and if it came to Gladio, he was the toughest of them and nothing could have happened to him.

Right…?

/

Next time Noctis woke up, it was Gladio that was sitting by his side, sleeping soundly and even snoring a little through his nose. The prince blinked slowly, clearing his vision, as more and more details came into focus. Now, he could see well enough to notice thick dressing at Gladio's nape and shoulders. He wondered for a short moment what was it for, when a memory of the wolf, pack leader standing on Gladio's back, came to him suddenly. As he gasped quietly, Gladio stirred and opened his eyes.

"Morning sleepy head." he said, yawning himself.

"Mor.. nin..g.." Noctis managed to get out from his abused throat.

"Hey, don't try to say anything yet." the bodyguard moved anxiously on his chair. "Mrs Spiderwick will bring you the medicine."

"But.. wha…?"

"What happened, huh? Yeah, I guess you don't remember much, do ya?"

When Noctis nodded, Gladio turned to him fully, moving his chair with him.

"You know when the pack leader appeared, right?" he asked and when the prince nodded again, cringing and massaging his throat through the dressing, he continued. "basically we were sitting ducks, 'coz it turned out some more wolves were still hiding in the bushes. The adults, you know, not the pups. So, even if we could do something about the fuckers attacking us, there were still more to go."

Noctis groaned and Gladio smiled humorlessly. That hadn't been his best day as the bodyguard.

"But as Prompto and Ignis were fighting three wolves and I managed to clock other two, we noticed that the leader wanted to get to you. I was too far and Iggy couldn't shake his wolf without leaving Prompto with them. Then, we heard a whistle, some calling and a group of chocobos jumped right in the center of the party."

Now, Gladio chuckled, as Noctis was giving him the look 'are you kidding me?'.

"No, seriously! There were some kids riding them and they threw this little thingies at the wolves, that erupted with flour, I think? Well, it was helluva effective, since directly after children came adults with guns and weapons and fire and scared the pack. We were freed, only to see that the leader was still advancing on you, Noct."

Noctis quirked an eyebrow.

"But they had a healer with them and they managed to scare the wolf away, the mayor together with two other guys. But this is not the end!" Gladio exclaimed, seeing Noctis frown. as the prince pointed at his own throat, he nodded. "yeah, that's not wolf's doing. When the healer wanted to examine you, you jumped at her and tried to bite her neck!".

Noctis grimaced again.

"It was serious." Gladio said, again becoming calm. "They knocked you out, but you didn't stop to trash around and try to bite somebody. So before we could stop them, the healer ordered one of the men to strangle you. Damn, that scared me shitless, I tell ya. But somehow, it helped you, Noct."

Before Noctis could call bullshit on crazy methods like that, the door opened and the wolf eyes lady strode in.

"Your medicine, lad." she said sternly. Watching as he drank she added "Yer friend said the truth. 'Vampirism' is a serious thing to treat. Especially when you guys didn't have anything to treat it with." the woman snorted and Gladio sighed tiredly.

"Yeah, yeah, we know that Mrs. Spiderwick. You told us enough times, Ignis was near tears already."

Noctis laughed soundlessly, not being able to believe such obvious lie. Gladio winked to him.

"You're the patient Noct, but you should have heard Mrs. Spiderwick when she got Prom and Iggy in her clutches. They looked worse than me in the end."

/

"I don't like it."

Ignis got into the car with a meaningful force closing the door. As they were told that the prince shouldn't still be running about, he was positioned on the back seat, leaning halfway on the leather and some on Prompto, who still felt crazy guilty for the whole ordeal. While Noctis really tried to calm him down and limit the damage caused by Prom's honest tries to make the situation better, after the third time of listening to chaotic apologizes when the other so much as touched him, he resigned.

"What? You didn't get directions from the mayor?" Gladio asked from the front seat. He tried real hard to ignore Prompto's squeaking fidgeting, but it was starting to get on his nerves, already wrecked by Mrs. Spiderwick's rough hospitality.

"I did." Ignis was still frowning. "But he gave me a rather peculiar look, when I said we want to meet Witch of the East."

"Did he?"

"I didn't imagine that." Ignis snarled angrily. Since the unexpected accident with the wolves, he seemed jumpy and constantly irritated. He put the key into ignition and turned it with so much force that the engine whizzed in protest.

"I didn't say you did" the bodyguard said carefully, seeing that Ignis' knuckles went white on the steering wheel. When the advisor was like this, much caution was highly recommended.

But the probable argument was cut short with a heavy sigh from the back seat.

"Can we please just go? People are looking at us strangely."

"Yes, your highness." this time the ignition answered smoothly and after a few seconds to compose himself and not to set anything on fire, Ignis pulled away from the village road.


End file.
